Wayne Rooney is a blessed football player, no one is able to argue against that. He handles himself with class on the pitch and his skills have not been matched in the past. But with the addition of Robin Van Persie at Manchester United, another gifted striker, Rooney was forced to take a backseat role. Instead of being relied on as the target man of the offense he was pushed back into a role behind the striker.
He’s already spoken out about his role in the team: “No. In the years to come, that might be somewhere I could play, but, right now, I’m definitely a centre-forward. I’m after more goals.” (Source: The Mirror)
He is clearly unhappy with his new role and as a result, requested a transfer for the 2nd time in the past 3 years.
You get the feeling that Manchester United’s newly appointed manager David Moyes is going to have his work cut out dealing with Rooney this summer.
But it’s not something that he hasn’t dealt with before. During Rooney’s time at Everton, he and the Scottish manager had their fair share of trouble. Moyes was unhappy with comments Rooney made in his autobiography Wayne Rooney: My Story So Far.
Rooney’s book explained how he was unhappy that Moyes had leaked to the press that Rooney wanted out of Everton. Regardless of the viability of the accusation Moyes took Rooney to court stating that Rooney’s allegation was “Wholly Untrue.” (Source: Business Insider)
The case was settled without having to step foot inside the courtroom, for a sum of £500,000.
Even with this bad blood between manager and player, Rooney will most likely not be moving this summer. Very few teams have enough money to take his wages onto their books and even less teams will be willing to do so. The only realistic options are Paris St-Germaine and Real Madrid and with the presence of Sweden’s superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic occupying the role of striker in Paris, Rooney may not find it a desired landing spot.
Spain would not be an ideal transfer location either, due to the excessive heat the teams must constantly play in. This does not suit the high energy game that Rooney has been able to exploit to his advantage in England.
Rooney needs to stay with United and fight for his role. He must accept that his blistering speed is diminishing. He is not so separated from the rest of the world class strikers in England as he once was.
If he should see out the two years left on his contract, he will be free to go wherever he likes. One option is to join United’s neighbours Manchester City. Joining these rivals would allow him to be paid as much as he pleases. City would love to have him for the long term. Even if his skills were to decline drastically in the next five years he would still be a huge draw if he were to be shipped off to America. City’s new team “New York City FC” would be a perfect spot for Rooney to see out his terrific career when he can no longer compete at such a high level.
It would even spark more interest from top level players to play in the league across the pond. He would make the same wages as he would at City, but without having to sit the bench.
Rooney’s career still has lots of places to go to, but with the game exponentially growing in America, this could definitely be an option. In the short term though, he should stay with United. He needs to make peace with his manger and try show that his skills have not depleted and that he can still be a clutch in a big game. After all, Manchester United will feel that you can never have too many world class players.
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